#not official content. the good fandom stuff.

[anghraine]

I've always been sympathetic to Luke, but the prequels' Skywalker backstory definitely makes me more so.

I've heard people dismiss him for playing with an old toy while complaining about being made to stay on a desert hellworld dominated by slave-owning gangsters, since Leia's a hardened revolutionary at the same time.

I think Luke's dislike of Tatooine is actually entirely legitimate based on the OT alone, given what he likely knows, but then it turns out that the slave-owning gangsters owned Luke's father and grandmother.

Luke doesn't know anything about Padmé and he doesn't have Leia's visions of her, so he has no sense of a legacy from lush Naboo or the apparently prosperous Naberries. His world is Tatooine and the legacy he's intensely conscious of is Anakin's, and Owen and Beru's. And I mean, Owen is Luke's uncle because Owen's father bought Luke's grandmother and freed her to marry her. She was later captured from the farm and tortured to death; Luke would see her memorial on a regular basis as he helps extract moisture on the farm.

He has every right to complain about being stuck on Tatooine—and always did IMO, but after the prequels? Whew.

[aroaceleovaldez]

i think the thing i'm most disappointed about with riordanverse fandom now versus like 2014 is not only has the fandom not gotten any less racist or queerphobic or ableist (in fact in some regards its gotten worse!) but now it's just boring too. like there's no fandom infrastructure anymore - the community these days is almost entirely source material-driven - and you deviate from canon even slightly people get weird about it. whatever happened to the post-HoO fanon boom. the fandom needs to get weirder again. and self-sufficient. and less offensive.

[silverselfshippingchaos]

I fucking HATE how the fandom treats m.ine. it's so bad 😭

[empty-movement]

Empty Movement's 2023 Revolutionary Girl Utena UPDATE

Fashionably late? As always. 2023 was a HUGE year for Empty Movement, so much so that to confess, we did a big fail in actually keeping up with sharing the stuff we did! OOPS. So finally, we proudly bring you: all the Revolutionary Girl Utena content we dropped in 2023. Essays, artbooks, CD information, you name it. Click below for the entire site update, or get it at the source, as always, at ohtori.nu.

In Analysis (Fan Essays): • seebee's essay The Power of Living an Embodying Narrative is about more than Utena, it's about the fandom--including us. We were both interviewed for this piece, and the result is an absolutely beautiful essay that has helped inform how we do Utena stuff going forward. Thank you so much for letting us be part of this! • seebee's VIDEO essay FILM CUTS BACK | transfeminism in utena absolutely blew our minds and it's so good we're listing it. Look at the title. Just go watch it, it rules. • Nicole Winchester's essay No Choice But To Become Witches: The Bishōjo-Demonic Phallic Mother Dichotomy in Revolutionary Girl Utena catches you up to speed on the academic discussion around what might best be described as the shoujo manga iteration of the Madonna-Whore complex. Then, naturally, it finds plenty to say about Utena. Great work that was well worth the coding!

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In From the Mouths of Babes (Translated Meta/Creator Content): • Cross X Talk, A Round Table Discussion Commemorating the Second Musical Utena GOGAI FUCKIN' GOGAI. Nagumo and friends bring us the final untranslated part of the 2019 Black Rose Musical's program guide: the monster interview with Ikuhara and the director of the musicals, Yoshitani. INCREDIBLE content here that 100% lives up to the first musical's similar encounter! A must read!! • The Rose Apocalypse's Ei Takatori Interview The director of the mysterious 1999 musical (yes the machine gun one, and YES WE HAVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT IT COMING) interviewed in The Rose Apocalypse book. This...is that. Thank you so much to iris hahn for translating, and I can't wait to bring you more of this mythology!!! • The Utena Dossier Animage Magazine's June 1997 supplemental, this 36-page Utena tome has ben translated by Nagumo with editing by Ayu Ohseki. Because so much of the content is in its visual presentation, I worked the translation into the original scans! Check it out! (PS. Yes that is an entirely different gallery on the emptymovement.com domain, no this won't stay there, yes it has been a weird couple years.) The Dossier includes two long interviews that are also worked into html pages for easy viewing! The Auspicious Joining of Manga and Anime: Saito and Hasegawa For Whom the Director Smiles: Ikuhara and Kitakubo

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In Historia Arcana & The Bibliothèque (Untranslated Resources): • There are a lot of changes happening in this arena!!! How and where to place different materials has been a moving target, so I'll do my best! The sites don't quite reflect this yet, but Historia Arcana will be for cover to cover Utena media, including special magazine publications. Something Eternal's gallery, the Bibliothèque, will be for magazine articles, clippings, and other things. Major artbooks will likely be in both places, cross referenced. New books in Historia Arcana: • The Rose Spiral: Reflections on the Mythology of Utena While not strictly official, this is a fan published book of in depth analysis of Utena, circa 1998! Yep, cover to cover. • Revolution Dictionary (OST 1 First Press Bonus) Cross-referenced from Audiology, this is the bonus dictionary you only got if you grabbed it early! Cool! • Revolutionary Girl Utena Making of Visuals Book Art of UTENA I am mentioning this for completions sake and because I already uploaded it, but this is a cover to cover high resolution, uncleaned scan of the 1999 Art of Utena artbook. I am going to clean the scans, and ultimately be posting the official artbooks elsewhere. • Revolutionary Girl Utena Photobook: Rose Memories This special Animage bonus could be purchased for 700 yen, and back then, was probably a great way to keep the anime in your pocket! It's entirely shots from the TV series, though, so there's nothing specifically new. But I scan it all, baby. New books in the Bibliothèque: • Chiho Saito's 1999 Revolutionary Girl Utena Original Illustration Collection HI THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL. Read more about why when you visit! TLDR? Here's some of the best artwork of Utena, rescanned and remastered by yours truly to be the best big big scans of big big beautiful Chiho Saito Art. This is a feast. I even made myself a calendar! (Note that the price is such that I don't make a profit on these, so if you're looking to donate, definitely go by other routes, haha.) You will find multiple ways to obtain the scans, and in more than one size. Either way you soak up the rays, enjoy 'em! New articles and clips in the Bibliothèque: • H! Rockin' on Japan Magazine Saito X Oikawa This fashion music magazine's July 1999 article has ALREADY BEEN TRANSLATED? Like, I am going to add the translation officially to the site of course, but holy hell Nagumo is amazing!! This article is actually the origin of a Saito art piece that uh, well. Now we know she went to a love hotel with movie Akio's VA. Cool! Anyway check it out! • Comickers Magazine, August 1997 This absolute monster find is an industry-focused magazine with this gorgeous spread and interview with Chiho Saito. It gets into how she does things. The making of Utena. All kinds of stuff. I'd LOVE to know more about this one!! • Comickers Magazine, June 1998 Again, an industry-focused publication, this time it's exploring the manga and the anime and how they compare. Again looks like a tasty meal!! • Volks Magazine, Spring 2022 YEP SCANS OF THE BOOK OF THE DOLLFIES. For a lot of us, this is at close as we get to these ludicrously gorgeous dolls. I included a few extra pages because they were just fuckin' cool and felt relevant. • Sega Saturn Magazine, December 1997 One of two grabs I got recently on Yahoo! Japan! This appears to be the first look announcement of the 1998 Utena video game! (Yes we have more on it, yes we will eventually post links.) • Sega Saturn Magazine, April 1998 This feature brings attention to the voice actors, who are all returning for the game! • Dengeki G's Magazine, January 1998 Another gaming focused magazine, with frankly a more adult edge, cheaply lets the readers know about Utena. These three game magazine moments are just a bizarre reminder of how we did things before the internet, LMAO

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In Audiology (Music and CD Information): • Complete information about the STAR CHILD - Girls Character Song Best album! You also definitely can't grab the two new remix tracks there. • Did you know there was a first press bonus dictionary for the first OST? I DIDN'T UNTIL RECENTLY. Now I know all about it, and so can you. Check it out! Obviously, scans available, both here and in Historia Arcana. • I FINALLY acquired a complete set of the Utena CD singles!! Check out complete track lists, scans, and information for ALL FIVE Utena singles. Yes. Including the movie Akio guy's one.

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In The Doujinshi Gallery: • Several dozen dounjinshi were uploaded earlier in the year, and can be found listed on the Site Update archive here.

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That's all for now, folks! There's so so so much coming. I have the episode 18 and 20 (!!!!) storyboards to scan, as well as a fully translated scanlation of The Duelist Bible. We're planning to do something for Anthy's rare LEAP YEAR birthday coming up, probably a musical stream or something! Love!

[lukolabrainrot]

Calm theory Anon here 🩷🩷🩷

Guys today has been a glorious day filled with so many gems. From Luke photo shoot to the tik tok to Nic commenting. So many great things happening. I want to touch on a couple things. First thing Luke's new found confidence when speaking. His body language and his tone showed me he was so much more confident in his speech and thoughts. That happens when you're confident in yourself. Before if we think back he would wait for Nic to speak and agree with whatever she said. I'm not saying he never spoke what he felt. But the man was holding part of himself back. He was comfortable letting Nic take charge in interviews. Now his tone is strong and his answers are well thought out. That only comes with inner growth which happens by a lot of self reflection. Our boy Lukey did the work he needed to grow. And I'm here for this Luke which just makes him hotter in my opinion. Now I wanted to touch on Luke and Nic presence online with each other. Do I believe more going on positively then we think? Yes. I think they are together. Do I know for sure? Nope I (unlike cough others cough) will never say something as fact when I'm not apart of either of their inner circles. But one thing I'm going to keep stressing is these photos are a moment in time that was capture correct. As you know a moment is fleeting and we can't really tell any type of story using moments right. So do we know what is happening BTS? Nope we have no clue but we do know from their own mouths that they have a special relationship. Do we see that online? Nope and until they come out officially as a couple we won't. We will get the likes and comments if we are lucky because let's be honest the way the fandom has treated them both we don't deserve that. They are not going to be lovey Dovey online. They just aren't. They won't until they announce that they are a couple. Now one thing we have to remember is Luke and Nic are their own people. Luke has his own projects and goals outside of Nicola. Nicola has her own goals and projects outside of luke. They have both worked their asses off to get where they are in life. But because they blew up on the same show and as a couple it's so easy for fans to link them as one. They have to show they are individuals. So yes we will get content where Luke doesn't mention Nic and times Nic doesn't mentioning Luke. This is normal and healthy. They are their own person. Also I have to remind people Nic has Luke number she knows him. She can call him and congratulate him in person. So that comment she left wasn't in my opinion just for him. It was for the Lukola fans and to show her support. She doesn't have to like or comment on his stuff. It was to show the haters that they are good. That's what they want us to know at this time.

Exactly, agreed!

Today was a great day for Lukola fans imo, and I'm still riding the high!

And I found it particularly interesting that a certain subsection had to come in LOUD with their bs today in the more positive Lukola spaces. Could everything we got today been so L/N coded that it made this subsection anxious... hmmmm, I wonder 🤔

[webshooterrr9]

Dating Ushijima Wakatoshi as the Club Manager

Headcanons + fic for male!reader

Commission for @crashgrav1ty

w.c: 2k

content warning: none!, fluff, cheesy highschool romance with ushiwaka

Headcanons:

I feel like Ushijima would be a soft dom when dating you, not like in a sexual way, but in a romantic way. He’s just so kind and smart and he would be so gently protective of you. He would pull you closer by the waist if you were walking through a crowded area, not to turn you on, just to make sure he doesn’t lose you. He would 100% be the one to walk on the outside of the sidewalk, he follows the sidewalk rule by heart.

He would also be an incredible listener. Ushijima is a very quiet guy and I don’t think that would change when he’s with you, but if you’re a big talker that’s a good thing. He’d sit there and listen to you yap with a small smile on his face, just admiring the gleam in your eyes when you talk about your little anime crushes and current video games you enjoy. He’s lowkey very oblivious to any fandom culture, but he’d let you chat about the drama all you want.

As far as volleyball goes, he always wants to impress you. Which isn’t hard, given that he’s one of the top three hitters in the nation, but whatever. He’s always giving it his all during practice and at games because he knows you’re watching. I think he took very good care of his health before you started dating, but after you started dating and became the club manager, he was taking any opportunity he could to hydrate and stretch - because he knew that meant that he could be next to you, even if you don’t talk. He loves just holding you after games, silently hugging you close to him and resting his head on top of yours. Ushijima would stay like that forever if he could.

As far as PDA goes, I don’t think he’d be super into it, but not necessarily against it. I think it would mostly be just small displays of affection like hand holding. As a guy who doesn’t say many words, I strongly believe that his love language is physical touch and gifts. Ushijima would leave cute little notes on your desk, sometimes with nothing more than a smiley face and a heart, and he’d share his lunch with you everyday. You’d never be lonely at school, and he’d always help you with homework that you struggle with.

Fic:

Today is the big day! Well, not really. It’s just another practice game against some other school in Miyagi - but still! Even if it’s not a part of an official tournament, you were always excited to see your boyfriend do what he loved most.

Ushijima holds your hand in his as you two walk through the hallways. Your last class, Art History, just ended and now you’re both heading to the locker room to get ready for the game. He doesn’t say much, but you can see in the quick glances he keeps giving you that Ushi is very happy that you’re here with him. You don’t always make it to practice games due to family stuff, so he’s excited to know that you’ll be there to support him - even if he doesn’t do a good job at showing it.

“Hey, Waki?” you say, turning your head up towards his. His ears perk up at the nickname and he turns to look back at you while the two of you walk. “Do you think we’re gonna do good today?”

He pauses for a moment to think. “I assume so. Nobody on the team is injured.” he turns his gaze back to the direction in which you’re walking, but he’s still listening to you. “Why do you ask? Do you think we’re gonna do bad?”

“No, no! That’s not what I’m saying.” you quickly defend, waving your non-held-hand around. “You just seem a little down, that’s all.”

“Down?”

“Yeah. Down as in sad, not as in syndrome.”

“Oh,” he replies in that same monotone voice as usual. “I didn’t realize I appeared that way, my apologies.”

You two enter the locker room, and he lets go of your hand for a brief second to open the door, immediately returning it to its rightful place after you two have entered. “No need to apologize, I just want to make sure you’re okay is all.”

“I’m alright. Don’t worry.”

You both head over to your lockers, which are conveniently next to each other. Your eyes wander to the floor as he changes from his school uniform into his practice clothes. Even though you’ve been dating for a few months now, you’re still shy about changing. Ushijima sees you avoiding his gaze and lets out a small laugh, speeding up the process of putting his new clothes on so that you don’t have to be awkward for any longer.

Once he’s done changing, he puts a hand on your shoulder to signal that it’s okay to look. “Hey.” he says, trying to get your attention. You look up at Ushiwaka, and your cheeks flush when you see him. Maybe it’s the way he’s towering over you, or maybe it’s the quiet confidence he exudes, but something about him is just so appealing to you. Handsome. That’s the only way to describe him. His short hair is neatly styled with hazel eyes softly looking into yours. There’s a gentle smirk on his face, one that would be missed by anyone but you.

“Yeah?” you ask, trying to be nonchalant. I mean yeah, you’re dating, but you still don’t want him to know that you’re crushing on him hard. Is it even possible to crush on your boyfriend? Or is that just love? Love. Woah. Big word. Not yet.

“I was wondering if maybe, after the game, you wanted to go get some taiyaki with me.” he took his hand off of your shoulder, but still maintained the eye contact that made your knees weak with joy.

A smile creeped up on your face. You jump up in excitement. “Duh, of course! I love that stuff!”

He chuckles at your excitement. You were always known to get a bit aggressive when passionate, and he found that cute. The way your face lit up when he mentioned food is a sight Ushijima will never get tired of. Ever.

“Great,” he smiled, putting his hand back in yours. “Let’s get out there then. To the game, I mean.”

You watch intently as your boyfriend and his teammates score point after point in the practice game. There were a few moments where they slipped up, but all in all, the match was a success for the team. You’d always be amazed by just how not tired he seems, even after running and jumping everywhere. You wonder if this guy even has the ability to sweat, or if he’s some sort of superhuman, volleyball machine.

The game was winding down, with the current score being 24-20 to Shiratorizawa. You were happy to cheer your boyfriend on, making sure that his water bottle was always full. After the visiting team got back on their bus to go home, you walked over to Ushiwaka.

“You did it, Waki!!” you beam, bouncing over to him with a spring in your step now that you two can hang out one-on-one. He smiles at you as he grabs his bag and water bottle.

“Ready to go?” he asks, and you nod your head excitedly. The two of you walk out of the school, getting on your bikes and riding down to your nearest Taimu to get those yummy desserts you were promised. By the time you two arrive there, the sun is already starting to set. Ushijima pays for your taiyaki and you both take a seat on a bench out front. You dig into the fish-shaped confectionery eagerly, not wasting a single crumb. Ushiwaka eats with you, although much slower.

You two talk about anything and everything, with most of the words being spoken by you. He watches the way your dark eyes seem to shine in the light of the setting sun, and the way the high points of your skin gleam. The way your smile stretches across your face, and the loud laugh you give when telling him a funny story. All the while, he has his hand on yours, lightly rubbing over your knuckles with his palm.

The pink and orange sky starts to fade into purple, with the cotton candy clouds clearing the way for the moon. You notice the streetlights turn on, and decide to wrap up your outing before your parents get mad at how late you’re staying out. “We should probably head home. I don’t want my parents getting mad at me.”

“Yeah. We wouldn’t want that.”

Ushijima goes to stand up, but you grab his wrist to stop him. “Wait.”

He turns back to look at you, with a quizzical expression on his face. You stand up with him, letting go of his hand for a moment. “Was this a date?” you ask, somewhat timidly.

Your boyfriend takes a moment to think before smiling, and even laughing a bit under his breath. “Of course it was.” he smiles, leaning down to plant a small kiss on your forehead. You blush furiously at the gesture, but try to play it off. “Right. Cool. Thought so.”

He smirks again at your reaction, but says nothing more. The two of you bicycle back to your house, and he walks you all the way up to your front door. When you step inside, your pets are all there to greet you. You wave goodbye to your lover, blowing him a little kiss goodnight - something you cringed at yourself for later. Ushijima waves back, waiting until you’re fully inside before he heads home.

As Ushiwaka returns to his small farmhouse, all he can think about is you. When he sets down his bag, all he thinks about is you. When he returns the animals to their pens, all he thinks about is you. Even as he’s drifting off to sleep, you’re the only thing on his mind.

He just can’t believe how lucky he is to have you. Someone who understands him, someone who supports him unconditionally. He doesn’t need to speak for you to know what he’s thinking, and for that he thanks you. Listening to the crickets outside his bedroom window, all he wonders is if you’re asleep already. Probably not. And honestly, he’s more than happy to be there for you in the morning when you complain about how tired you are. He’s already prepared to pack a lunch for you.

And as Ushijima finally slips into unconsciousness, all he can think about is how much he loves you. It’s cheesy, he knows, but he’s so grateful to be able to experience teenage love with you. And one day, he’ll show you just how much you mean to him.

this was a commission for a friend!

my commissions are not currently open, i only accepted this one because i've known this person for years

in the future, i plan to open commissions for those who want a personalized fic!

the original fic was more detailed to the commissioner's life, but i edited out the private details for security.

hope you enjoyed!

much love to all my supporters mwah

[inchidentally]

Inchie we need your words of reason again 🙏 Newer fans have bled over from other hockey rpf and keep crossing lines 🫥

babe idk how wise I am ?? at all but I'm a firm believer in using common sense about rpf. and I haven't personally seen the stuff you're alluding to but! I've seen posts referring to it and I heard smth about another ship suffering a containment breach… so can't hurt to throw my 2c in as well ?? idk?

tl;dr that landoscar is NOT the ship for you if you 're going to try and force it to be "real" in a l*rry way*. this ship adores the real life friendship without having it compete with the guys' other many friendships - and we do NOT hate women and women partners or pretend they're beards/fakes/conveniently open relationship. and we absolutely do NOT push rpf outside of fandom. you'll get blocked/reported if you do. this is NOT the space for you to find your next "omg what if they're actually fcking" ship. Lily and Oscar are basically forever, Lando is rightfully loving his life sharing his beautiful body with people, and the fan fiction for the ship is staggeringly amazing so we're very very happy w the status quo <3

and we do NOT share rpf content with Lando, Oscar, anyone in F1, the families - basically if they're not someone you know solely in fandom, you don't share rpf with them. again, you will not find support for that here.

I "officially" joined landoscar fandom around Silverstone 2023 and these have been the hard lines taken for as long as I can remember and from all of the OG people in this fandom. esp from people who've been here since Oscar's Alpine tweet bc landoscar is unique in not having led with a PR image and we've all gotten to see every nervous, stumbling and authentic progression of their partnership and friendship along the way - at no point feeling the need to cross the boundary between fic and reality. it truly is charming and intriguing and rewarding as it exists in reality!

as far as the 'why' essay I'll drop all that where it can be ignored easily aslfgjalgf

like I said - landoscar has always been the exception of no one ever slipping over into trying to "make it real" in large part bc Lando and Oscar don't do the PR bromance/fake gay/fan service stuff which !reminder! is content in other ships I absolutely eat up and is 100% targeted to me but !! I'm also aware is connected to a lot of inappropriate fan behavior from ppl who blur the lines between amusing PR content and reality. trust me, I had to basically abandon carland0 which was my very first f1 ship bc to this day - fully out in the open - I see casual misogyny thrown around about Rebecca and ppl truly loudly thinking Lando and Carlos - who have always referred to each other as brothers and who laugh at the "gay" stuff they do precisely bc it's not real - genuinely fcked and/or dated. I will never care enough about an rpf ship to willingly encounter that shit on a regular basis. I know there's a lot of good ppl in the ship who don't engage in that stuff but I have such a hard line about wag hate that it's not worth it for me.

ironically or maybe because of, Lando and Oscar are the only drivers to NOT engage in playing gay for laughs BUT also who hit multiple progressive bullet points in things like discussing romance and dating in gender neutral terms and not making a big deal out of consuming or discussing queer media etc. they actually walk the walk in not pushing gender identity or sexual orientation on hypotheticals or on each other. they also don't do any macho/tradmasc behavior with each other or even bro-ey stuff like rough-housing or loud, aggressive humor (nothing wrong with loud bro stuff tho as long as it doesn't veer into toxic territory! I come from hockeyblr originally so it can be really sweet!)

and landoscar is also the exception in that we all ADORE Lily and have zero interest in trying to erase her let alone anyone be hostile toward her. in straight people culture they're basically already married and that's how they were when landoscar started as a ship! a lot of us have regularly made posts similar to this for newer fans to remind them that Lily (and whoever Lando ends up with as a steady partner) are NOT pawns in an rpf game. Lily is a real human woman with a real life relationship with Oscar and while no one is obliged to engage w wag content, respecting her existence is the bare minimum expected.

the last point I should make is that there's a very clear difference for instance on my blog where I see fanservice ship content about say charl0s or frand0 or n0rtrell and lose my mind over it and love it etc. but then there's Alex or Rebecca or Pietra on my blog! bc I can have fun without erasing women or losing common sense!!

whereas whenever I post stuff about a friendship that rly does make me Feel Things and write my insane essays, it's bc of what the relationships verifiably are and not what they aren't. Max F truly has a complexity and level of depth in his relationship with Lando that is unique and special to each other's lives. in the same way, Lando and Oscar truly do have a particular charm and fondness for each other that's made them approach each other unusually tentatively and slowly - while also having such intense blushing fondness as well as a uniquely intriguing maturity to their professional partnership. this stuff is fascinating and those two examples in particular swim around into all kinds of social/emotional territory.

in ways that do not require conspiracies and fan theories of them fcking or dating to make them compelling.

(and tbh the fact that Lando has some form of "crush" on a lot of handsome men and subconsciously/consciously "flirts" is absolutely fine to enjoy... as long as none of it gets outside of fandom.)

and the fan fiction for landoscar is truly TRULY staggeringly prolific and immensely talented so that's where we go for imagining them in any other type of reality <3

*do not get mad or whatever abt this - if you did or still do just want to ship l*rry privately then whatever but that's the like terrible gold standard for horrific real life repercussions of taking rpf seriously and why fandoms should never ever allow that to happen. there's no debate about that.

[misc-obeyme]

I haven't written an official post about the recent announcement, but now that I've had some time to process and read through what some others are saying, I think it's time.

To begin with, I'm not going anywhere. I've expressed this before, the fandom is alive and well. I will not be deleting anything or leaving the fandom or anything of that nature.

So with that out of the way, what the heck happened, am I right?

I want to very clearly state that my official opinion on this is that I don't know.

I've seen speculation that they've been planning this all along and I've seen arguments against this saying there's no way and something big must have happened unexpectedly. As usual, I can see both sides of this, so I don't have one side that I land on. I know that for myself, it seemed very unexpected and my first thought was that something drastic happened business-wise to cause it. Mostly because it doesn't make sense to me that they would release so much new stuff just to ax everything shortly after. But I don't actually know. I don't know enough about the inner workings of companies like this, let alone a company that operates in a completely different country from where I live.

I would also like to say that I highly doubt they will be shutting down the apps any time soon. They'll likely still be running, possibly for years to come. I've seen it before, where games that have a story like this end because well... the story ends. But the app is still available so that people can enjoy the story far after it ends. It's certainly a good plan to archive what you like however you like to do so. Again I don't know what the longevity of this kind of thing is. So while nothing is shutting down, I can't possibly begin to guess how long they'll still be running.

In the end, I think we can all agree that this is upsetting news. Many of us are sad and angry and feeling betrayed. All of this is valid. We still have a community here and this is what our community is for. So we can band together in times like this, bring comfort to each other, and create content of the characters we all know and love.

It isn't over until we end it. As I've said before, my ask box is open if you want to rant or vent or talk about it.

I love you all.

[spookmuth]

DOAI AU Masterlist

for a little while we've been all kinda known each other in this little fandom, but we've had a few people are newer and have questions about AUs and the like, so here's a little master post! Its still in the works, please send asks and reblogs about more stuff I can add!

Official DOAI content

Doai YouTube playlist- The official playlist, little under an hour in watch time.

The haunted halloween ost- The banner music that plays in the background of the series!

Pastras official discord-https://discord.gg/75pJEf66- ran by pastra and his mods, this is the official discord for their channel and DOAI! There's more cannon DOAI over fannon and AU content.

AUs and fan comics

-> In no specific order

-> Due to being based on horror media, all the AUs will have trigger warnings that come with the genre as in, blood, gore, body horror, death, and medical horror, if theres a trigger warring not on this list, it will be in the description of the AU

Sitcom AU-

Tags-#sitcom au- #Doai sitcom au

An AU about an what if scenario where after Clyde breaks into Alexes home intending to eat them, but after they offer it a sandwich, it changes its mind, at least for a little while.

Creator-purplechaosguardian was the og poster, community created overall (original post)

Sitcom AU discord sever- https://discord.gg/Uv5t97zd A community ran discord sever, mostly about the sitcom AU, but we talk about all sorts of things!

The long explanation of the sitcom AU

Sitcom AU timeline

Troupe of eldritch horrors/circus AU-

Tags- #troupe of eldritch horrors au-#toeh au-#doai circus au

The @troupe-of-eldritch-horrors- blog

Creator-@redleaderdemon

A AU and fan comic/ ask blog, currently asked closed. -What's the AU about? The main cast of DOAI and the rest of the veldigun work at a circus ran by lankmann, with an underling story and lore.

TOEH AU timeline

Fran bow AU

Tags-#fran bow au

Creator-@redleaderdemon

Crossover AU for DOAI and Fran bow.

Williams foundation/Swap AU-

Tags-#the williams foundation au

Creator-@corrupteddoodles

AU where all the main roles are swapped I.E Alex swapped with lankmann, Clyde swapped with Winfrey. The AU gets its name from the name of Alexes version of the lankmann foundation, the Williams foundation.

Brainwash AU/Caretaker Alex AU-

Tags- #doai brainwash au-#caretaker alex au

Creator-@corrupteddoodles

AU Where Alex is under a mind control state by lankmann, and forced to work as a caretaker.

Fallen angel simon au-

Tags-#fallen angel simon au

Creator-@corrupteddoodles

An AU where simon and others are angels.

Folie a deux AU-

Trigger warring for- possession, illness, and cannibalism.

Tags-#doai folie a deux au

creators-@cardboardclownery/ @cookiecaker

AU where due to longterm exposure to Winfrey while working at the lankmann foundation, Alex forms a mental bond with Winfrey as a form of veldigun sickness, leading to Winfrey being able to control their body at random.

Repeating Cycle au-

creator-@bellatrix-the-leviathan-girl

20 years after the good ending of Sitcom, Alex (now a Veldigun) gets captured by the foundation. Eventually, a girl, whose dad works at the Asylum, stumbles into the room on accident. She comes back the next day and offers Alex a pb&j. Alex immediately realizes that they have unintentionally sealed this girl’s fate.

Little apprentice AU

Tags-#doai little apprentice au

Creator-@silverstudios

“The basis is that William Lewis, one of Clyde's victims, has been promoted to Lewis Williams, brother of Alex Williams, and on that fateful night Alex managed to save him and got snatched instead. Lewis then gets taken in custody by Lankmann, and years pass before Clyde decides to try to get them again.”- @arkaix

(this is version.0.3 of this post)

[blueteller]

Tcfipedia, I humbly require your wisdom again (sorry, I couldn't help myself, I wanted to do it last time I asked but I forgot lmao)

Do we have official chibi art from TCF? I'm trying to get myself into coding again, and I want to try to make a web fangame (like lucky boxes? But you find a few characters and can give them cookies and stuff that you get from the boxes)

I want to share it in the fandom if I ever get to made it, but i don't want to ask permission to use someone's fanart in case i actually don't make it, bc I'll feel bad for potentially illusion anyone

Anyway, thank you beforehand!!

I don't know what you consider "official chibi art", but the most "official" art content should naturally be the manhwa. While I do have some complaints about that adaptation, I never faulted the artstyle: the character designs look fantastic.

So, I would personally recommend looking through the manhwa for comedic moments when Cale or other characters are drawn in chibi style. There aren't a TON of those, but there is definitely a whole bunch to choose from.

Here are some examples:

I hope this help! If not, there should be fan artists in the fandom willing to help you: I'm sure I would if I could draw well, your idea sounds fantastic!

Good luck! 💖

[olderthannetfic]

A common argument I see against constructive or negative opinions (even in For Readers spaces now apparently 🙄) is that they crush people's dreams of being a writer.

And like. I have diagnosed issues with rejection sensitivity, so sharing my work publicly was extremely difficult for me at first. But it was just something I had to get through if I wanted to be a writer. When I was in a university level creative writing class, I was stunned that they wasted a seminar teaching us stuff like you're/your and there/their/they're until I noticed that my classmates found it really useful. I realised 00s fandom taught me better grammar than the actual official school system, say nothing of charactisation, voice, pacing, etc. There were a LOT of resources to help new writers understand writing 101 and avoid annoying mistakes/cliché plots, which you don't really see anymore. I honestly feel like I got an expensive years long creative writing course for free.

And even as a melodramatic and oversensitive tween, I always had the attitude that I wanted my writing to be good, so if people pointed out typos or grammar mistakes I'd just thank them, fix it and remember for next time??? I never once felt "bullied" by legitimate criticism: as someone who actually was bullied a lot IRL, 00s fandom was actually one of the few spaces where I felt comfortable and safe. Whereas tbh I don't always feel comfortable with this modern culture where fanfic writers demand comments in return for creating "content" "for free" but setting strict demands for what kind of comments they want to receive. (And ofc it's for free! It's not their intellectual property!)

Which is all to say, if someone telling you "hey, maybe consider adding paragraph breaks" makes you want to quit writing forever then maybe you didn't actually want to be a writer all that much.

--

I think people mix a whole bunch of dissimilar things.

If you go to art/film/etc. school, you'll need to get used to group critique. It's partly about advice, but a lot of it is about toughening you up for future situations where your audience is not going to care about why a work isn't up to their standards. I think some of these practices actually can be pretty damaging. It really depends on the professor to make them constructive.

A key element is that people who are going through that are usually supposed to already have some experience and be pretty committed, so they aren't going to shrivel up and quit.

When I was a little baby writer, I was indeed pretty sensitive. Even while trying to finish the first draft of a novel, I need cheerleading or maybe goading to put my ass in a chair. The hard part is getting the words out, not making them good. So a lot of negative shit, even if well meant and useful, would just be discouraging.

But...

There's a big difference between having no interest in back seat driving from AO3 comments and opposing all review-ish conversation anywhere, whether it's bookmarks or discord servers or other archives that have more of a culture of reviews than of comments for the author.

I think you can want to improve but not want to do it via AO3 comments. You should still leave readers to do their thing outside of your comments though. Analyzing or reviewing can be a big part of someone's own fannish activity—a positive and fun hobby for them, not just an excuse to yell at the writer.

[deltarunetheorydump]

DELTARUNE - Debunking the "FRIEND"

Something I've noticed after being in deltarune fandom spaces after Chapter 2 is that there's a pretty big fixation on the "FRIEND", which has always seemed a bit... off, to me? But, based on a few recent findings I feel very confident in saying that the "FRIEND" is, beyond a reasonable doubt, not an actual new character. (Afterthoughts under the read more)

So, here are my afterthoughts:

Calling this a "theory" is a little disingenuous seeing as most of it is just compiled 'objective' information, but I really hope that people begin to understand the nature of the basement smile a little more. This is kind of an image I put together at like 5 AM after a night of theorizing with like 3 people on discord so it might be a little rough around the edges. Obviously the "angry" parts of this were heavily exaggerated for comedic effect, but there are a quite a lot of theories based on the idea of the "FRIEND" being a character that exists, and a... LOT of fanworks, but it kind of just distracts from ACTUAL mysteries in UTDR that could be being solved or at least discussed.

It's a little bizarre looking back and seeing this sort of mythos built around the "FRIEND", stuff like it being a cheshire cat, it being Mike somehow, and it being heavily relevant in the future chapters of deltarune. Stuff like the friend being a "cheshire cat character" or even existing isn't really mentioned at all in deltarune and has quite a fragile basis when you look at it without already assuming it's a character, but people have clung to this idea and projected these ideas onto official content (cough cough mystery letter) to the point where I think the future chapter releases are going to be very jarring for people who EXPECT an answer to a mystery that doesn't really exist.

Anyways, I'm not too good at ending these things but I'll cut off my ramblings here.

[weirdmageddon]

everything about the homestuck stuff is making me really gleeful like. we are so fucking back. and i still cant believe i was shitting on postcanon earlier on twitter and then LITERALLY 2 minutes after i post it, i see homestuck tweet that they updated after three years while going hey the old drama people are gone and we got a new writers union and james roach and beloved big name fans to finish it with james “yall know i just do the music right” “closest contact homestuck official had to the fandom” roach as new director and basically owner of the homestuck ip. and 3 of the people on the team are people im mutuals with, longtime with floralmarsupial, so i know how good they are as creative forces and people. and multiple fans reading the update thought the dialogue was much funnier than the updates before it or even the entirety of postcanon. some homestuck fans dont want anything to do with it, thats how badly postcanon burned the fandom, which is understandable, but this feels a lot bigger than homestuck: beyond canon (previously homestuck^2). being run by people who we feel closer to and more trusting of not to make awful decisions and whose content we know is good because we went to Homestuck High together

[neyafromfrance95]

what's wrong with haladriel tag today? everyone is spreading hate or getting baited by the antis. doom and gloom. only a few posts are of the shippers goofing or discussing the ep in a way that doesn't feel like the show ended haladriel for good.

yeah, idk. i try to not scroll down the tag nowadays. i finished the episode and it was fine to me. i understand everyone's complaints and frustrations as i myself wished for sauron to see galadriel being in captivity at least (and my main issue is galadriel's shortened screentime), but i feel like we might be overreacting a bit and ruining our own shipping experience?

what saddens me the most is that i don't see the fan creations getting appreciated. the shippers would make great gifsets, edits, art - no reblogs. write fics - no comments or kudos. maybe the fandom is still small but i look at the stuff from s1 and it had so much more interaction and encouragement from other shippers.

even the metas from s1 aren't all about "when will celeborn appear and can galadriel be shipped with sauron when she is married to celeborn?" it seems like haladriels didn't give a f about that forced discourse back then and were just wholly enjoying the ship.

as i've said, i think elrond kiss is not the worst thing for haladriels. it might indicate that celeborn won't be introduced (yet), so galadriel won't have to "go back to being his wife". elrond/galadriel won't turn any more romantic than this, at most it will be ambiguous. and they might be testing the waters for how the audiences react to canon divergence. if elrond can be galadriel's jacob, why can't sauron be her edward?

listen, so many of the most iconic ships have never kissed or were never officially a couple. if the dynamic is shippable then why stop shipping just bc a season doesn't go exactly as the fans wanted it to go in their wildest dreams? we still have s3, there still might be the mind-palace communication explored in s3. after all we know the whole show was inspired by the idea that sauron ever so gropes to see galadriel and at some point galadriel closes the door on him but he still allows her to roam his mind freely!

+ this season still was like a continuation of sauron and galadriel mirroring each other, it confirmed that galadriel has feelings for sauron and that sauron is obsessed with her. there is still one ep left where this slow-burn build-up is supposed to climax.

my point is, let's try to be more positive? and being positive isn't necessarily confined to being delulu. it means creating fan content or hyping up fan creations, it means taking what we get in the episodes and dissecting it with passion, engaging with analysis, having fun!

i have been in many other fandoms and i know that a fandom can't be longevous if it's sustained on frustration and negativity and discourse 80% of the time.

for what's it worth, let's let the creators know that we want haladriel, not that we hate the show the same way the lorebros hate it. yk?

[no-where-new-hero]

omg I need your thoughts on the terminally o line author culture bc ngl it makes my eye TWITCH, there are authors I deliberately avoid even tho I've heard their stuff is good bc they're like that 🙈

HHHHH oh good lord, okay, from how I see it, there are two angles on this, both aggravating and sad: the official decree one and the spontaneous ecosystem one.

The officious one is that the nature of publishing nowadays demands an author have an online presence. You need Twitter/X. You need to let every potential reader know your book is coming out. You need engagement through reviews and pre-orders incentives (if you buy now you’ll get a special keychain!!) and word of mouth assurances from your peers that yes your book is as cool as you say it is. You need a newsletter with links (more buying! more voting on lists that are simply popularity contests!) and promises you’re still working on the next thing, don’t forget about me in the morass of everyone else doing the same thing. You need an Instagram and TikTok now to post pretty pictures and videos because one or two authors made it big off this kind of promotion and now everyone thinks it’s the ticket to the bestseller list (sadly, it seems to be working). You need an OnlyFans (a joke but I do recall a twt spat that was a joke/not joke about how rupi kaur will always be more beautiful than her critics and people who took issue with the conflation of beauty with talent). At the end of all this, you’re basically an influencer, a content creator creating content for the content you should be focusing on creating, the finished novel. And the novel itself seems to be disappearing behind the masks used to promote it (fanfic-style tropes, moodboards, playlists, memes) until I now no longer trust the book that I’ll pick up to have any resemblance to the enticements that brought me here. I’ve seen an author or two complain about the stress all this self-promotion generates, but it’s become such an entrenched part of the industry, I think people just accept it. And thus spend too much time online hoping that if they tweet just a little more, produce just one more reel, maybe that’ll be the difference between a sale and no sale.

The other side of this, distinct but obviously connected, is the ecosystem created by this panic of being perpetually visible coupled with the fact that so many of the new authors came of age during the rise of internet fandom culture. That opinionated community mindset that blurs the line between anonymity and friendship is the lens they bring to their own work. I mean, it makes sense I suppose—if you love yelling about characters and words, why wouldn’t you do that once you start to produce your own? This really came home to me hearing about that reviewbombgate “scandal” and how people involved were in reylo circles and that was used to provide receipts. You’re interacting with your readers and peers about your intimate work but they are also all strangers. They will not always give you the benefit of the doubt, and now—as opposed to the past when maybe the worst that could happen was a handful of bad reviews in newspapers—you will either be tagged in hate reviews, sub-tweeted, explicitly called out, demanded to atone for your sins. It’s no longer the morality of consumption but the morality of production. Of course, the easy answer is just log-off, touch some grass. But that can work only when you and everyone else are separated by anonymous accounts or when you have no platform to maintain. As an author trying to make your livelihood from this, suddenly it’s do or die. We’re in a strange moment of authorship bringing the Internet’s echo-chamber and claustrophobic into the real world (this is a lie: publishing now is no longer the real world. But it looks like it) and thus you can kind of no longer escape things.

Will the average reader who isn’t aware of all these machinations care about reviewbombgate? Would a reader browsing at Target think about the controversies around Lightlark? Very likely not. But the impression I’m getting more and more is that the average reader isn’t the one buying all the books. Or shall we say—a bestseller’s status relies on bookstore stock. Bookstore stock is only huge when they know a book will be a good investment. They’ll only know a book is a good investment if it and its author has street cred based on booktokkers, bookstagram, bloggers and reviewers (have you noticed how many books out these last maybe 1-3 years have these kinds of accounts thanked in the acknowledgments? Yeah), and THESE are also chronically online people who will Know. And decide the cast of fate.

Honestly, @batrachised, I see why you avoid these kinds of writers, though I wonder how long it’ll be before the disease becomes epidemic.

[dynamic-swap-au-archive]

I'd like to offer gorillaz fans (and Potential gorillaz fans) another resource that I've spent over a year creating and perfecting.

The Gorillaz !

This playlist is, to the best of my ability, Every Single piece of gorillaz content that can be found on youtube in story order.

all of the music videos, all of the indents, all of the interviews, animations, radio shows, news specials, podcasts, audio books, tiktoks, Everything.

on top of that ! I made the decision to include select fan content! because Frankly the gorillaz fandom is unimaginably talented and creative. this includes Fully animating several music videos that were cancelled, but given to us in animatic form, original animations, animatics, and storyboards, fan visualizers and recreations of live visuals, even voice fan dubs for written material like the interviews and novels.

and more than that, with the (incredible) fan content that was available I've Also been able to flesh out the stories of each phase! a decision I made due to the plastic beach, the third album, never getting to finish the story officially (leading to the band breaking up and coming back 7 years later).

I'm so proud of what I've been able to do with it ! and even happier to share the picture I've been able to make as a whole :>

below the cut I'm going to include several other playlists that are based on this one, but made to be more digestible and less intimidating for newcomers ! as well as many other resources to fill in the gaps that this playlist can't ! (namely the written material)

thank you ! and I hope I can share something I love with all of you !

First is the simplest ! all of the music videos in order ! (plus a Few indents, because I can't help myself): [Link]

this obviously means that you lose out on quite a bit of context, as much of who the characters are as People and their relationships together are in the extra material (especially the shorts and interviews). BUT

this is the most Accessible, and also really convenient if you just want to vibe to the music. if you're not sure if you want to commit this kind of time to a cartoon band, consider checking this out! you may find yourself interested enough to learn more, or you may just have a good time and feel satisfied with what you've seen ! either way I'd be honored to have helped :>

Second, the Midpoint between these two extremes !: Phase 1-3 [Link] Phase 4-7 [Link]

these Include extra material like the shorts and animation, but Cuts Out some of the longer content like the podcasts and interviews! you can still get a pretty good idea about what happens in the story of each phase watching this, but it's not bogged down by videos that are hours long.

it'll give you a clearer picture of what's going on, include fun side content, while being less intimidating than the Full playlist. this is what I use to show my friends gorillaz !

alright, so you've got just the music videos and just the short stuff, now lets try just the Long stuff. all of the interviews, radio shows, podcasts, Etc: [Link]

maybe you've used my last playlists and now you'd like to listen to some of those long form videos you missed out on. maybe you just want to listen to these characters talk because it's Nice. either way, it's all here :> (I know, because I had to upload some of them myself)

Pirate Radio: [Link]

it's all here with One technical exception. pirate radio was the serial radio show for plastic beach/phase 3, that gave us insight into murdoc's frame of mind as a character. it Also used copywriten music. the reuploads on youtube cut the music out (likely because they wouldn't be available otherwise), while this google drive has the full unedited audio files if anyone would be interested!

this one may seem redundant, but I promise it isn't. All of the gorillaz albums in order: [Link]

this playlist (for the most part) doesn't Have any visuals, it's Only the music.

likewise, all of the music in the previous playlists are only those songs that Have visuals (official or fan made), which means not all of gorillaz's music is present! which is exactly what this is for :>

you have every album in order, filling in the gaps of what's been missed, As Well As special albums that are Associated with gorillaz, and gorillaz' guest appearances in other people's music !

now we're out of my playlists and into other resources :>

Lobotomy Pop: [Link]

this is a website that's worked for years to preserve and organize Every Single written interview gorillaz has ever done ! it's an invaluable resource and really just very cool.

it also categorizes several other things ! such as listing out all of the personal playlists the gorillaz members have put out over the years, or every profile that's ever been written for the characters ! it's very much so worth checking out as a fan.

Gorillaz Art Archive: [Link]

exactly what is says on the tin ! this is a google drive that's attempting to archive Every Single piece of official gorillaz art that was released from phase 1 in 2001, to phase 5 in 2018. it is Massive and it's such a joy to have access to

The Kong Files: [Link]

if you were wondering why the art archive stopped at 2018, this would be why ! the kong files has much the same goal, but instead picking up at phase 6 and continuing on Theoretically forever ! or at least it's kept up with all of phase 7

that said ! the kong files is attempting to document Everything relating to those phases. so all of the social media, all of the music videos, all of the written text, Everything !

I wouldn't try to Only use this for watching phase 6 and 7, but it's an Excellent resource for everything that could fall between the cracks

Rise of the Ogre on Archive dot Com: [Link]

rise of the ogre was an official novel released at the end of demon days (the second album/phase 2), that covered the entire history of the band up until that point! their backstories, how they met each other, what they'd gotten up to in the 10 years they'd known each other, and the shocking event that happened at the very end of the phase and the band's reaction to it. all leading in to plastic beach, (arguably) the Most story heavy phase of them all.

as I understand it, this novel has been out of print for a very long time and is quite expensive to buy second hand. so ! it's been scanned and uploaded here to the archive! there's actually several more scans available in the gorillaz art archive, but this is the most recent (having been uploaded just earlier this year).

Dawn of the Ogre: [Link]

dawn of the ogre is the fanmade sequel to rise of the ogre, attempting to fill in the gaps of what happened at the end of phase 3, the 7 year gap, and up to the (then) newest point of canon.

this is, of course, unofficial. so this is essentially fancy fanfiction. But it's extremely well done fanfiction that happens to be novel length, attempting to emulate the style of the original novel, and is fully illustrated. along with being available completely for free!

I'd definitely give it a shot, if you're the type of person who's already read rise of the ogre

the gorillaz wiki !: [Link]

I have no clue what the fandom thinks about it, but it was absolutely invaluable both in making my playlist, and becoming a fan at all. with all the work I've done my hope is that people won't need to go digging for themselves, but the Option is certainly always nice !

I'd Especially like to highlight this page [Link] which has transcriptions for all of the pirate radio show episodes !

I feel like there's a lot to find here :>

and of course, my own dynamic swap au archive! [Link]

if you've fallen in love with gorillaz and are desperate for more to sink your teeth into, then I couldn't recommend this enough !

keep in mind that these resources will continue updating ! as new music is created and new fan content is made! I'm keeping my eyes out on a fan project for a fully animated mv right now that I'm sure will make it to my playlists one day :>